Puppeteer Dan Baginski, left, of No Strings Marionettes, helps Julia Caserta, 8, center, with a costume for her cyclops puppet.

Third-graders at Montpelier’s Union Elementary School have been up to their elbows in puppets for the past couple weeks. For the past dozen years, puppeteers Dan Baginski and Barbara Poulin of the No Strings Marionette Company in Randolph have been coming to the school for an intensive puppet making and performance worshop. Students design and create their own fully operational puppet, then give voice to its character and bring it to life in performance. Above, Baginski helps Julia Caserta, 8, center, with a costume for her cyclops puppet earlier this week at the school. Left, Louisa Braun, 9, left, and Linnea Colwell, 8, look over accessories to use in decorating their puppets. Below, Carmen Richardson-Skinder, 9, applies orange paint to the head of her puppet.